The Dark Knight Rises movie review

" Oh boy, You're in for a show tonight " - The Cop from The Dark Knignt Rises

A hell of a show indeed.

8 years after the events of the previous film, the movie starts with broken and battered Bruce unable to move on from the deaths of Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent. The Gotham city was as clean as ever as Dent act was introduced to put all the remaining criminals behind bars. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon was also affected by the lie he made to save the Gotham city from breaking down. The movie starts out very bleak and ends with the way how this trilogy should be ended, a grand conclusion.

Enter Bane, a giant man ( yes, i meant giant ). Tom Hardy looked pretty small in the trailers and the posters but on the screen, he is a giant. An unstoppable physical force worthy of being the Batman's opponent and potential doom. Bane is not the Joker, nor this movie isn't an attempt to replicate the tension that Heath Ledger's Joker brought to the Batman's world. Bane is a straight up villain who doesn't think twice about what he does and he is intimidating. The physicality, the body language, the tone of the voice. You'll be happy to see Tom Hardy playing the role.

As with the Batman, the is the most Batman-centric movie of all series in terms of his detective skills, ninja abilities and last but not least his impressive gadgets. Bat fans don't need to hold their breath. Christian Bale saved his best for the last. and boy ! does he look majestic in that Batsuit. Theatricality and deception are powerful agents as Ras Al Ghul taught the Batman. Finally, here's the Batman who used all his skills he learned from The League Of Shadows.

The most speculated and criticized character before the release is Anne Hathaway's Catwoman. Under Christopher Nolan, Anne Hathaway's Catwoman is a sight to behold as Heath Ledger's Joker. Who would have thought they would be perfect for the roles in the first place? Anne nailed the cat like mannerisms and Selina Kyle's charm for the role. The chemistry between the Batman and Catwoman is truly apparent as much as Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. This is a character not wasted but has a function in the plot.

There are  lots of twists and turns in terms of story telling. Fans do really need to watch the first two in order to get the full experience of the movie. Fan boys dissecting every frame on the trailers might think they have seen it all but the movie far far complex and greater than the trailers. The film last over 2 hours and 45 minutes but pace of the movie is fast. It's a war movie. The action scenes are majestic to behold in IMAX and its bombastic thanks to the score by ever impressive Hans Zimmer. All in all, Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy can be considered a definitive series of the greatest character in superhero genre and it doesn't disappoint. In fact, Chris Nolan raised the bar again in superhero movies and this will be really hard to top. 

Future PR Students

First off, Congratulations ! because you are in the hands of a very good lecturers.

So you decided to study Public Relations for this year. What should you expect ?

Expect a lot of things. Because you will learn a lot depending on how much you want to contribute in class projects. You'll definitely get something. 

BE LOUD !

Yep. This is for the quiet people. You can expect to work with plenty of people and being quiet in the group can bring you unintended consequences. You wanna get heard ? Be loud. The group decisions are often based upon who the loudest person is. It's tested and proven in social studies. However, this is not the most important skill you need in PR ofcourse. This is just a tip.

Keep up to date with the news.

Really guys. It's simple. You must know what is happening in the news and have an opinion. Whether you want to keep it to yourself or say it to others, have an opinion. In this course, you'll learn about people as much as your ethical boundaries. 

Keep your word.

Why did I put it here? because a great man once said. Part of the secret to success is showing up. You are not only doing a favor to others but to yourself. Reliability and accountability will go a very long way with your classmates and in your professional life. 

Be organized and know your limits.

There are those of you who may think of themselves as superman or woman. You will work with many people and you will have to rely on them. Know what you are doing and help each other.

Be ready to deal with the unexpected.

There will be plenty of curve balls thrown at you. And it will test your problem solving skills. Think on your feet and respond fast in a calm and collected manner.

You will get to network with many people.

The lecturers will help you push your limits and out of your comfort zone. It may seems hard at first but it'll be worth it. You will get to meet incredible people from different sides of PR throughout the semester.

Last but not least. Remember that the person next to you is also there to learn.

First impressions make quite a difference but reserve your judgement until late into the course. PR requires a variety of skills. Different people comes from different backgrounds and they can contribute in many ways. Face it. If you can't deal with different people. You don't belong in PR. Be diplomatic and nice with each other. Empathy is one of the most important quality you should possess. You are not just doing PR for yourself.  PR requires different set of skills and point of views. Acknowledge it even if you can't embrace them personally. Reserve your judgement until late in the course and try to learn from each other. 

Here I send my best wishes to all of you. May you enjoy the occasional boost of adrenalin as much as I did.

Obama's at it again.

Obviously, it's a political move. A card held closely to his chest. A winning move maybe. 

Remember the first move? Closing down the Guantanamo, bringing the troops back home? Of course, its been a long time.  

Looking back at his first victory in election, from the use of social media to the method of dealing with the public, Obama campaign set the new standards in terms of persuading the public. And sadly, it's becoming over used and predictable for the informed minority. 

As for the same sex marriage it self, my opinion is simple. I do not have strong opinion one way or another of couples voluntarily living with each other. Only in the western societies, this issue is blown out of proportion. Where I come from, it is not objected but it is not highly promoted either. 

Relationships are voluntary as they should be. Bringing the government into validate personal life matters is absolutely wrong in my opinion. 

It is morally unacceptable to use government as a tool to decide which couple gets to stay together and which aren't due to the person's personal beliefs. 

In this case. Let democracy speak for itself. We are quite sure we already know the answer. There are other global issues, war, terrorism, poverty, racism. These things concern me. Not the same sex couples living next door or what's on Jersey Shore. 

Campaign awareness in schools on use of the internet

Some argue that privacy is dead in an age of the internet. It's more or less true. Day by day our lives are taken over by the ever advancing electronic communication devices. The growth is going at unprecedented rate and we are in an unknown territory for there was no wide spread use of internet before the 90's. The convenience to share and consume information has a profound effect on everyone alive today, especially the youth who are born in an age of technology.

Internet brings an age of free flow of information. It's anarchistic by nature. When I mention " Anarchy " I mean as in without rules. Not chaos and destruction. It's basically free. Stored in the tens of thousands of servers across the world are all types of information which can either be used for good or bad. It gives people so much power and responsibility as well. The latter, many don't like to think much about due to the convenience.

Today, sites like YouTube and Facebook are bombarded with trillion Gigabytes worth of data on daily basis. Smart phones and mobile devices capable of Wifi or 3G functions are also the cause of people sharing tons of thousands of videos and pictures on the internet. These are devices which is very common among the youth who doesn't care much about privacy or internet footprints. So, it's not surprising to see questionable content being posted on the internet. Some do regret later and pull it down but the nature of digital information is that it is basically permanent so long as there is electricity.

To raise awareness about dangers and consequences on using the internet, I would begin from the very place the issues are originated. The social media.

Using social media is the only way to bring awareness because it's not very likely that the young people are going to reduce their usage time. Social media functions can be used to the full advantage to bring young people in about the responsibility and accountability for being online.

The influential YouTubers who make viral videos can talk about online issues on their viral videos through their subscribers who are basically the youth using the internet. Their reach is far wider than the teachers in the class room. They should also be persuaded to make specific videos about online issues for their audiences.

Sites which host viral contents like 9gag.com can raise awareness about the dangers of sharing information. Everyday, thousands of students and everyday people a like visit such sites to find jokes and funny materials.

There should also be a Facebook page and a discussion forum where the youth can freely discuss and seek help.

Last of all, there should be a seminar on online privacy and safety issues hosted by social media experts. Teachers and technical experts can make significant impact on the youth by encouraging discussion and debate about social media in classes as well.

The main theme of awareness should be " responsibility " and " accountability ". This is what social networking should be about. Internet is a free place and everyone shouldn't forget the bad that also comes with the good.

Last weekend was filled with the recent mid term election happened in Myanmar. My facebook feed was exploded with all the updates from what is happening back in Myanmar. All the celebrities and friends a like posting minute by minute, hour by hour posting the updates of the process. It was exciting and questionable at the same time.

So, when I found this article in " The weekend west ", I wasn't surprised much how much the international attention was on Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar. What is more interesting is, it's the article about her personal love life. It's titled " Suu Kyi's untold love story ". My logical assumption tells me that the editors chose the topic so that it's more relatable by the general public in Australia. It's a love story about a Burmese girl who happens to be the daughter of the father of Burmese independence, General Aung San. Her choice to be with a man from different racial background was a subject of political controversy back in the country as well.  It's really tragic.

Her personal relationship commitments were used against her political goals but it didn't stop the general public from Myanmar to stop loving her. Her personal sacrifices and a spot light place in the international community made her more popular in Myanmar.

So, it was a landmark in the political history of Myanmar when she was elected again into the parliament in the recent elections. She was under house arrest for more than a decade. Survived an attempt to assassinate at Depaeyin and made it through the other political controversies surrounding her house arrest. It represented a triumph and national reconciliation in a country turmoiled by plenty of internal and external issues.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a virtuous woman. There is no doubt about it. Her recent campaign showed that it's unstoppable when the public is totally behind her. Myanmar is not a technologically advanced country. It is astonishing to see the social media exploding with support for her political party, NLD. All my friends, a few of them are celebrities, posted hour by house updates of the election process despite the slow speed conditions of internet. They were posting pictures, videos and news updates as if it's happening right in front of my eyes. It made me think of one of the rules in public relations. What happened in Myanmar is the explosive potential of influential celebrities and people a like supporting the highly influential person. The result is the victory in the elections by a big margin.

Now, the question arises. Such kind of power is a dangerous one. She and her party representatives won almost every ballot on the seat. Mainly due to the fact that the public supports the idealist leader. No one knows much about the representatives of her party until now. Perhaps they will do a fine job. Perhaps they will not. Only time can tell. Sometimes, it's good to view with skeptical eyes from the outside away from the euphoria and romanticism. Are the Myanmar public in love with the election process and victory of Aung San Suu Kyi or the virtues of the party itself ? Where I'm standing at, it's not so clear.  

Group projects are part of student lives. They either teaches a person to be a team player or go to the opposite direction. Personality types matter too when working in groups. Group projects are where the extroverts thrive and the introverts fear. We are now living in a world where extroversion is revered and introversion isn't favored.  My aim is to bring an understanding between the two types when working in group projects.

First I will explain basic necessities for running a group project.

Number 1: Setting roles and goals. It is entirely essential to set roles and goals at the early stages of group project to avoid confusion and resentment afterwards. Every group member must know their role exactly and must be willing to do their part. Being organized means having greater efficiency thus better quality group work.

Number 2: Having time cushion at the end of the schedule

It is important to revise and improve on the group work before the due date arrives. It also helps to finish tasks ahead of time just in case if unfortunate event happens.

Number 3: Work load balance

Why is it important? It is important that every group member should know their personal limitations and not carry the weight they can't. Failure to deliver means hindering the group's goals and objectives. One person must not carry every responsibility while the others do only a little. Clarifying the work load balance means having greater transparency and efficiency in group.

Now for the introverts in the group project:

Know that your opinions matter.

Why?

Just because someone speaks up and have the attention doesn't mean that they are always right. Group projects are the area where the risk of Group think occurs. People tend to agree out of their own uncertainty. You must not let your creativity and opinions be drowned out by the surrounding voices and distortions. Remember that most innovative ideas come from inside. You don't have to change the way your brain function to get a long with others. The world needs all thinkers, talkers and doers a like. Thinkers strategize, talkers persuade and doers...they do the job.

Remember that public relations is a profession where you have to be all three. Strategizing, persuading and doing things.

And last of all: Check this amazing Ted talk by Susan Cain. This will bring a greater understanding to yourself if you are an introvert. The extroverts will gain an understanding to the other way of thinking as well.

Human wifi hotspots...Click on this article

The first thing that popped up in my head is, how is this going to be practical? let alone being ethical.

It is a bold approach for them to come up with something questionable and entirely experimental. Although the project is well intentioned, we also need to consider how this is going to change the perception of homeless people among everyone.


To understand why it's not practical, we need to look at the reasons why and how people use the internet. Wireless connection is something I expect to be there, without disruptions and without having to deal much with internet service providers.



The other factor to consider is the competing available technology. Would anyone with a mobile internet device, let it be smart phones or tablets go out of their way to buy services from moving mobile hotspot. They have no need for it when they have their own 3G connection on their devices.

The homeless people could be helped in plenty of ways without being objectified into wireless mobile hotspots. Sure, it might give them a chance for their own income and it's entirely up to them. But I don't see this idea going anywhere.



 

I'm not a cult follower of Apple products or Steve Jobs but I really like some of his thinking and the way he combined technology with liberal arts ideas. And I wholeheartedly agree with this quote. I believe that the heart is the compass to the salvation.

This video is a must see for everyone who is interested in awareness raising aspect of Public Relations. I think it's brilliant how they produced this documentary.

The Purpose of Blogging in PR

Blogging to me was a way of sharing my thoughts when it first came into the internet scene prior to the rise of social networking in early millennium. The web 2.0 platform is one of the most important factors that has an enormous influence on how people communicate and share their thoughts with each other. Being able to publish means being able to broadcast your thoughts and information to the infinite cyber space with many other people from around the world. There were plenty of examples in the past decade on how the bloggers have changed the political landscape of many countries including Iran, Egypt and Burma(Myanmar).

I can think of several reasons why blogging is important in Public Relations industry

Number 1: Keeping up with the technology

Public relations is an ever evolving field where the practitioners use all means of communications technology to reach to the broad audience. To stay relevant in the field means to be able to use all types of technological mediums and learn to master the nature and potential of the medium itself. Technical expertise and versatility are the qualities that every public relations practitioners must possess.

Number 2: Blogs are excellent places for research

Part of being in public relations industry means staying in touch with all sorts of issues in society. Since blogs are freely available to create, many people from around the world use it to share different types of information on their blogs. Plenty of influential events can be traced back to the bloggers. Understanding and world events and views of different people gives a public relations practitioner and edge in formulating the better responses.

Number 3: Blogging lets you write your thoughts

Let's face it. We do not write as much as we used to write in our school days. We consume more information than we create. The advance of laptops and personal computers are partly to blame. One can get lost in the infinite pages on the cyberspace while trying to quench the information thirst and it can be achieved instantly. Writing is an art where a person can self discover and organize their thoughts. It's also an essential skill for public relations practitioner to have. Blogging is a perfect medium to start writing again.

Number 4: Blogging is an excellent medium to keep in touch with your target audience

PR blogging is different from conventional blogging. It is more of focused communication between the audience and the blogger on particular matter or organization. It's about reaching out to the audience and maintaining the relationships that is built. Starting your own blog is a perfect way to become more experienced about the whole process.

If you are interested check the below links for more information on PR and Blogging,

http://e-strategyblog.com/2009/12/the-importance-of-blogging-10-reasons-pr-people-should-blog/

http://www.online-pr.com/Holding/PRandBloggingarticle.pdf

http://www.changements.com.ulaval.ca/module10/RP_blog.pdf

Need for speed?

You know you've become a Formula 1 fan when you start listening to engine sounds on repeat instead of your music collection and start thinking of life in terms of F1 glossary. 

If I hadn't come to Australia, I am not sure I would be following the Formula 1 racing event like I am right now. I would probably just be playing football(soccer) like I did when I was in Singapore. My real life experience with F1 cars is during my stay in Singapore. It is such a lovely place which boasts the dynamic atmosphere which I really love. In 2009, I was lucky enough to be at the first ever night race in Singapore. Prior to that, I only have a little exposure about formula 1 races but my curiosity kept me informed enough about the drivers such as Michael Schumacher and others. The event at 2009 cemented my interest in car racing but it's only after arriving to Australia that I started following the event properly.

What got me interested in the F1 racing is the unique combination of man and machine. The races are as much about engineering innovation as the skill and determination of the driver. Fitness is one of the main factors too. And nothing is comparable to see the cars past by as the sound of the engines roar into your ears. It's massive and majestic.

Being a student of Public Relations course, I have come to see the Formula 1 racing event in different light. Formula 1 racing is a prestigious sport with long history as far as 1950s. This isn't a sport like any other. It involves car manufacturers, plenty of sponsors and it generates millions of dollars every year. So it's fair to assume that there are many public relation aspects involved.

The races are all year round in different countries. Currently, the 2012 season hasn't started yet but teams are in a build up phase. By this time, plenty of teams have come up with new cars for this season and are testing them on the circuit. The build up is a phase for public relations campaign. Teams such as Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari use mainstream media and social media extensively for the promotion of their brand and the upcoming races.

I have been following several teams and noticed how much social media is involved in promotion of this sport. The event is gaining younger fans in social media atmosphere. Plenty of drivers are on social media sites and fans are informed of the progress on a daily basis to anticipate for the new season.

As the season progress, I will get to explore more about Public relations in a Formula 1 races and I couldn't be more excited about it. Here's an example of Formula 1 PR campaign.

Good news everyone !

In this auspicious day, I introduce you to my new blog " The Thinker's Corner " where I will be writing about self improvement, men's issues, commentary on viral events, entertainment and global politics.

Peace,
James Ivan.